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2.16.2014

Green Champa Garden

Finally, Laotian food can be found outside of Oakland. Green Champa Garden, no relation to Champa Garden (see post HERE), lends a much needed variety of Asian food to the Fremont area. With a ton of Chinese and Indian restaurants in the Fremont area, I can definitely see this being a popular spot down the line.

Nam kao (rice ball salad) is probably one of the more favorite and popular dishes of all Laotian cuisine. Its crispy texture of the rice along with the spicy and citrus flavors make this dish a unique winning combination for most people. I do prefer Champa Gardens and Vietiene's version of nam kao over Green Champa Garden, but if you've never had anything to compare to it, then this version can be quite good.

One of the greatest things of Southeast Asian cuisine is their knack of creating well balanced combinations of spicy, citrus, and sweetness without any one flavor overpower the next. Larb is another one of my favorite Lao dishes. This one seemed to be missing some oomph and could have used a lot more spiciness. Not to mention the beef doesn't come out raw, but actually its ground beef. However, upon request they did bring out some housemade Thai chili sauce, nam prik pao, which I love and poured over everything.

I could have been happy with just larb, papaya salad, and nam kao, but I figured I should have a go at a noodle or a curry dish. Noodles won out today. The drunken noodles was probably the weakest of all the dishes. The noodles stuck together in a clumpy mess and the flavor of the dish didn't stand out compared to the rest of the meal.

I can't decide which I love more - nuoc mam (fish sauce) or nam prik pao (Thai chili sauce). If you ask, they will bring out their housemade nam prik pao, which I highly recommend. This makes everything delish and helps to up the spicy level to my liking.

While I rarely order desserts at Asian restaurants, I have to say that the roti with ice cream was probably the best dish of the meal. Fluffy, buttery roti topped with vanilla ice cream that melted in a sweet sauce. So delicious. I'd come back just for this.